The Boys' Lake Cottage Bedroom

We recently visited my dad, who lives on a lake, and I did a few things to the boys' bedroom there. Christian, our 5 year old (today's his birthday!!!) and Justin, our 2 "and-a-half" year old sleep in the room that used to be my dad's and my Uncle Teddy's when they were boys.

Our family's had the cottage since the 50s and our boys love visiting now...

Whenever I visit my dad, I get a few things done here and there. Lots of it is fast and unplanned which means most of it is antique shops & retail.. This time, I did a little in the boys' bedroom. Here's the view from the door...

I switched out some of the "girlier" fabrics and colors (The aqua and corals I'd put in 10 years ago just weren't quite making it boyish enough ;) and added a few things from around the house & a few new ones. I pulled in the old Ikea chair we'd had and am eying another chair to swap it our with but will have to wait on that one. It's a nice spot to read with the boys. I DEFINITELY need to add some blackout matchstick shades (they wake up waaaaaay to early with the sun & the time change) and plan on adding a wall of old family photos across from the bed so the boys will see their great-grandparents and the rest of the family when this lakehouse was in its heyday. (It used to be packed every weekend with family but we live so far away it's not the same.) We still all get together there, just not often enough.

One of my favorite additions to the room is the set of basket fish we hung from the ceiling:

{found at the PB kids store}﻿

I "borrowed" this vintage ship model of my dad's from another room in the house:

{A secret: The curtains I hung are too short for the windows but are mostly hidden behind furniture. When the shades get added, I'll hand the rods a bit higher and add more fabric to the panels - probably in a contrasting fabric. But for now = shhhhhhhh }

Christian sleeps on the left and Justin is on the right with the bed rails to keep him from falling out. I love tucking them in at night and climbing into bed with one of them. Justin kicked me out this trip saying I should "snuggle with Trin Trin" instead. (I guess I'm a bed hog.) We watched fireworks from the window the other night and I fell asleep. It made me really happy.

I know it would have been a prettier pic without Justin's bed rails but that would have taken too long ;) ;)

I love the size of this room. The ceilings give the illusion of even more space and there's not much "stuff" at all in here because we just bring our clothes when we come. At home, the boys' room is so tiny that just 1 t-shirt on the floor makes it feel like a mess. (Add in unmade beds and toys and books and the room looks trashed daily.) They love playing with toys in here and even when they're not all picked up, the room still feels good. I WISH this room was in our house at home.

Here are the boys "hanging out." (Actually, me stealing them away form a game of hide-and-seek to make them sit o the bed so I could get a picture of them in their new room. Ah vell.)

{"Are you done yet Mom?!!"}﻿

In a couple of years, Luke will join them in the big boys' room... probably with a sleeping bag.

AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BIG 5 YEAR OLD!!!!!

ps- As I mentioned, I've been LOVING instagram on my phone and have been sharing little peeks of projects and tidbits on there. I showed some pics of this room on there last week & looove playing with the photo editing to make the pics look cool. (I'm really bad at it right now, I'll be honest, but I have hope.) I'm not sure how to link over to it but my name on there is LaurenLiess and as soon as I can figure out how, I'll be sure to share a link on the blog so you can find me. I've been having so much fun seeing everyone's phone photos and it's a little like twitter but waaaaaay better.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

i love the size of that room as well. i always like getting ideas on kids sharing rooms because if we stay in our current home, my children will probably need to share. i kind of like the idea of them being together in a room & we have a decent size room to work with! those fish are pretty neat too - very fitting for a lake house!

I absolutely love the room, it's relaxed, not "themey" (is that a word?) but so put together! I love the dresser and beds the wood is beautiful! What happy memories your boys are going to make!! Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall in a few years so you could hear what all your boys are talking about before they go to bed? (:

I love the room! I honestly didn't notice the guard rails in any of the pictures until you mentioned them. That's how good you are at designing! :) I'm glad to hear you're on Instagram too. My username is lilsuzy if you want to follow me back.

this is beautiful! Love that it isn't all blue and could be for either sex. I echo @Melkorka above. You could just put one of your Instagram photos on the side of the blog and have it link to Statigram - from there people can follow you on the computer or on their phones. I'm going to follow you now!

Happy Birthday to Christian! I hope he has a wonderful birthday today! This post brings back the days when we all went to my Grandparents cabin in the summers. Their bedroom is so cute and looks spaious.

The boys room is perfect. I love the addition of the hanging fish but I really love the beds - they're so nice. Instagram is a lot of fun - i'll have to follow you. It's fun to get the sneak peeks of everything. What I also love is that if you have a Mac (and on the cloud) your Instagram and phone pictures should show up right away in your Photo Stream - it's pretty awesome.

This is a perfect room for boys, and your's are adorable!Funny thing about your photo wall plan...I did this in my granddaughter's room and had to take it down because she said it was 'creepy'. ?? She is pretty opinionated about her decor!

i love to re-do boys rooms.my son's room was always more fun to play in/switch things up than my daughter's room. her's was girly and even when we went with an asian theme, i still loved his room best :)

As a decorator & a textile designer, this is my place to muse... perfection doesn't interest me; Reality and charm do. Fresh floppy flowers from the garden over long-stemmed roses any day, I love it when things are slightly off and tell a story.